Alright, well, you do have the song called "American Dream" still on this new iteration of the album and it paints a pretty dismal outlook of society. . . Yeah (laughs)
Do you see any hope for America? (laughs) Yes I do and I really want people to know. . . I want to stress, hardcore, that the reason I have that outlook is because I believe we can do better, not because I believe that there's no hope, you know what I mean?
Sure. I really do feel like. . . I mean, I'm a victim of what America creates. My story is based upon, being raised by a drug addict, having no stability in this society and not being given a chance. Being looked on like I was a nobody my entire life, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
And then, when Jesus got a hold of me, it was like this whole other realm opened up to me and I became something. In some people's eyes, I still might not be anything, but to me, I'm living my dream, I have a relationship with my God, my family's changed, everything about my life is different. And for the first time in my life - when I became a Christian, from the age of 18 - I've actually experienced hope and happiness. From 18 and beforehand, I never experienced that.
Right. So, I do believe there's hope, because of the hope in my life. Because of the change I went through, I feel like anyone, anywhere has the ability to change and I feel like society as a whole has the ability to change. And I think sometimes pointing out the flaws is a good way to open up people's eyes as to what they're missing out on. I mean, that song "American Dream" is written to inspire people to stand up for morality and stand up for Jesus and stand up for the things our society was built on in the first place, not to act like there's no hope and just let it be torn down.
Alright. That's good. And you mentioned your personal story, and it's difficult to go through those hard times growing up, but I'd guess that now you can look back on your life and see how those experiences prepared you for doing this, right? Yeah, for sure. I made peace with my past literally within the first year that I was a Christian. A lot of it had to do with, you know, God showed me so much love immediately after I got saved. I experienced it so much that it made up for all those years when I felt like I wasn't experiencing any of that.
Cool. I don't know, it's just been a cool journey. I like how my story gives me a tool now, you know what I mean? I can go now and I can relate with so many people that, if I didn't have that story, I don't know how. . . I'm not saying that my story should be. . . When I go and I speak and I share, I don't wish my story upon anyone else. You know what I mean, I don't hope that there's people who have experienced these crazy beginnings to their lives and then get through it and change so that they can have a story. I don't wish that on anyone. I wish everyone had my wife's story - She was born in a church, raised in a church, got saved at a young age, never really had a backsliding period, that kind of stuff, you know?